Malicious DLL Sideloading of wke.dll via DriverAssistant acvb (via image_load)

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1574.001DLL
Persistence
- T1574.001DLL
Priv Esc
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
- T1574.001DLL
Defense Evasion
- T1548.002Bypass User Account Control
- T1574.001DLL
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the signed DriverAssistant binary acvb.exe loading a wke.dll located alongside it, a DLL side-loading chain used to bypass UAC and launch FatalRAT. This behavior was observed in Operation SalmonSlalom against Chinese-speaking targets in APAC. Detecting the abnormal module load exposes the defense-evasion and execution stage of the loader.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious DLL Sideloading of wke.dll via DriverAssistant acvb (via image_load)

Pivot detection · T1574.001 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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